Registered: 11/13/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Small Town, SC
I'm finnaly getting the chance to see how my gear works. I've been invited back to my old ROTC unit's winter survival drill this weekend. I'll be part of the survailence team thats ensuring everyones safety and making sure no one cheats the rules.
Its still a week away, but the forcast is reading 18, "Real Feel" of 12 with 15 mph winds and gusts to possible 25. Sounds like fun. My backpacking sleeping bag is a western mountaineering 30* bag. I'd like to keep to the backpacking stuff so what should should i do in yall opinion to keep warm?
I'm not sure yet if its a totally a unseen mission yet, so im not sure what yet about fire. but, mainly i'm looking for sleeping bag options.
Eat well, drink plenty of fluids, keep moving, don't let yourself get cold because it takes energy and time to reheat, stay dry, grab hot liquids when you get a chance.
I'd use a flannel liner for the bag (unless you want to get another WM rated for the temp you'll be in). And of course the all important layers. CCF under your sleeping pad if it is not insulated.
_________________________
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Helen Keller
Your solo tent should add about 5 degrees of warmth (or, by blocking the wind, eliminate the Real Feel factor.) WM bags are usually rated about 5 degrees conservative, so the bag is probably a 25 degree bag in reality.
Wear dry, midweight or heavyweight long underwear tops and bottoms to sleep in; add a fleece or down jacket and pants if necessary. Also, wear heavier, dry socks and a stocking cap and balaclava (face mask) to sleep in. Make sure the socks aren't tight, since that will constrict blood flow to your feet and make you feel colder. I sometimes carry a separate pair of fleece or heavy wool socks for sleeping, and change out of my hiking socks. You can always add your raingear if it gets colder than anticipated; it holds more heat than you might expect. Just be sure you're not wearing so much clothing that you start to compress the down in the bag from the inside.
Put your empty pack under your lower legs, to extend your sleeping pad to full-length. The thick foam backpad of the Nimbus Ozone will keep your legs warmer. The Prolite Plus pad should be OK at 20 degrees; I've used one at that temperature before. However, if you're concerned, you might add a thin closed-cell foam pad under it.
If you're using a fire, and can arrange an "ideal" campsite, you'll have a large boulder or cliff reflecting heat back toward your tent, meaning that the little micro-climate you're in will be a couple of degrees warmer. Just remember: tents are flammable (spectacularly so; I saw one flare up at a Scout camporee once), so you'll want to be back from the fire a good bit - of course, the further back you are, the less heat reaches you.
Will you be camping at a fixed base, or near your car? If so, some of the extra stuff, like the second pad, can be left in the car for use if needed. Better to have a bit extra in the car that you don't use, than come up short.
I've been fine in Ohio at 15 degrees in January (ground frozen) using a Prolite Plus pad inside a Hubba tent, sleeping in midweight longjohns, balaclava, heavy socks, and a light down hoodless sweater in a WM Megalite bag. Unless you sleep really cold, or let yourself get overly tired, don't eat or drink, or get wet, you'll probably be OK.
Ditto what Glenn has stated. In fact, it echoes my experience almost exactly. Wind protection a tent provides, use of clothes to sleep in, rating of WM bags, etc. etc.
Registered: 11/13/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Small Town, SC
thank ya, thank ya that really helps out. I'll keep all that in mind. Should be pretty fun. I'm planning on going up to the smokies the next weekend, with snow on the ground, so that should be interesting...
At 15 degrees below the rated bag temp, I'd take a full length CCF pad to put under your Thermarest, sleep in at least long underwear if not also fleece, and take a hard nalgene bottle to bed filled with boiling water, but I sleep cold. Eat lots, drink hot drinks, stay warm, and have fun.
_________________________
If I wouldn't eat it at home, why would I want to eat it on the trail?
Registered: 11/13/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Small Town, SC
the new forecast is 10 degrees. i believe even though its a synthetic bag, and is heavy, i know it works. i'm going to take my 0* bag that i've slept to around 5* in and was pretty warm.
theres our forecast. it sounds like its going to be cold. i'm at 14 lbs 6 oz with food, so now i need water and clothes and i'll weigh again, but i think today i'm going to take out the WM bag and put in my big one. i know it'll be warm,.
Unless I were in a real survival situation and I do not mind trashing my tent, I would never put my tent anywhere near a fire. Small sparks land on the fly and make tiny holes that you will not notice. Very soon your tent will leak. This also holds true for placement of a tent anytime you use a fire - do not even put it downwind within the distance a spark could stay hot. Your decision to take a warmer bag is a better solution to the problem.
For me, it's mostly laziness: fires are just too much like work.
You have to gather wood, build a fire, light it, watch it go out, relight it, then put it out when you're done with it - and carrying water to put it cold out when you make a dry camp is a real pain.
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6800
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Be sure you have a really well-insulating pad--or pads--underneath! Maybe a CCF pad beneath the Prolite Plus. That can make all the difference between shivering most of the night and being cozy warm!
With the extra clothing, liners, etc. with the sleeping bag, just make sure you don't compress the bag's insulation, which will reduce the warmth and thus offset what you've added. Another possibility: if you have or can borrow a summer weight sleeping bag, you could drape it over the top of your 30* bag.
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
Registered: 11/13/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Small Town, SC
well to be honest, i've never been cold a night in my life when camping except one night i somehow unzipped my bag and it got stuck down...
and i've never owned a sleeping pad until now, and havent tried it out yet. so i have a feeling that this pad wll help, but i dont plan on being cold with or without it. I camped atop mount mitchell last year and the last temp the guys in the site next to us saw as 8* at about 11PM.
Registered: 11/13/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Small Town, SC
Packed up minus water with the big bag.. i'm at 18lbs. I figured probally 4 bottles of aquafina. i'm taking my dromlite bag, so hopefully i'll be able to get to the lake and filter some water, and i can put it directly into the bag.
Let me get this straight. You're going to sleep in 18 F. temps with a WM 30 bag? My WM Megalite is a 30 F. bag and barely good to 25 F. even W/long johns.
You need a serious insulating layer over yer polar weight long johns, like 300 weight polartec pile pants and jacket.
I slept OK in my Megalite (a larger girth WM 30 F. bag) at 20 F. by wearing a Thermolite Micro poly fiber insulated pants and jacket but over midweight poly long johns. Beause the Megalite does have that larger girth wearing bulky clothing did not compress the down on top of me.
That was this October at Arapaho Pass, Colorado at 11.300 ft. and in a tent.
_________________________
"There are no comfortable backpacks. Some are just less uncomfortable than others."
What can I say? I did sleep in my Megalite, with midweight longjohns, heavy socks, and a balaclava, this last January, in Ohio. My guess is that conditions other than actual temperature might factor in: the night was still, in a sheltered campsite in the woods, with no precipitation. Might your other conditions have been a bit harsher, such that wind chill or other factors might make your 20-degree night?
Also, what kind of pad did you use? I was on a BA Insulated Air Core, with a Zrest backup (I forget if I used it on top or or under the mattress.)
Also, I don't sleep particularly cold - though I did start to get a bit chilly around 6am.
Now, I would point out this was not an intentional test. The predicted low was 25 - but predictions have a way of going bad. Afterward, I added lightweight down pants and hooded down jacket to my winter pack; I'm not eager to repeat the experiment.
Registered: 11/13/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Small Town, SC
so heres the email i got back after asking, i said i'd be hiking 10 miles
Quote:
Nope, YOU and I will be traveling about 30 miles. The cadets will be traveling about 10 miles. You have a much leaner mission. It will be fun. You and I will have a base camp away from the others. I will only be there occasionally to deliver the explosives, and give mission guidance. Also, be advised that we now are up to about 6 visitors/potential recruits, who will be your responsibility, partly, and partly Inst. Longs.
Our long-time Sponsor, BackcountryGear.com - The leading source for ultralite/lightweight outdoor gear:
Affiliate Disclaimer: This forum is an affiliate of BackcountryGear.com, Amazon.com, R.E.I. and others. The product links herein are linked to their sites. If you follow these links to make a purchase, we may get a small commission. This is our only source of support for these forums. Thanks.!